Speeders beware: Minor traffic violations will now carry higher fines.
Previously, speeding between 20 and 25 miles per hour over the limit was a $140 fine, a seatbelt violation was $60, and all other violations carried a $120 fine. Those all bumped up to $164 on Monday, July 1.
Normal Police Chief Rick Bleichner said the change impacts the officers handing out the tickets, too.
“We have new citations that are here and ready to go and ready to roll out. We have a process in place for taking the old ones in, and counting and auditing those, and issuing new ones," he said.
Bleichner said the department has been preparing for the new citation rollout for about six months.
“We have actually been monitoring our citation numbers, so how many citations we have, to avoid having a whole bunch of additional ones," he said.
Bleichner said the department did a good job of phasing out the old tickets to avoid additional costs when printing the new ones.
Bloomington Police are also rolling out new tickets.
The increased fine comes with a slew of vehicle-related laws that went into effect Monday, including an increase to the state gas tax and harsher penalties for using an electronic device while driving.
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